Bat for Lashes calls Brexit "painful" but but says it "needs to happen"

Bat for Lashes - otherwise known as Natasha Khan - thinks that Brexit could serve as a wake-up call for change.

Bat for Lashes - otherwise known as Natasha Khan - thinks that Brexit could serve as a wake-up call for change. In a webchat with The Guardian, where fans asked her questions about anything, the conversation turned political when she was asked, "As a British person with Pakistani ancestry, how does the recent [Brexit] vote make you feel?" Read her full response below:

"I’m obviously devastated by the message that this choice has put out to the world, because I’m a product of a multicultural society. My mother lives in Germany, I have French aunties and uncles and cousins, and I’ve benefitted from being part of the European community. And my dad is Pakistani, an immigrant in this country, and met my mother and I was born out of his ability to come and live and work here. However, I’d like to offer some reassurance in the fact that I think the corporate structures of our world are not serving us and haven’t done for many years, and even though this is a scary time of unrest and upheaval, looking at it from a grander perspective, it’s an important part of the breakdown of outmoded political and economic models. I hope this helps us to break down the things that aren’t working for us any more, and to bring about more emphasis on community, loving our neighbours, re-educating ourselves that we are all global citizens, and start to rebuild structures we’re facing in the future, like stopping wars that create the immigration crisis, environmental issues we’ve been ignoring for too long, and the fact we need to reach out to each other as a global human race.

Obviously this sounds like a fairly idealistic view, but I do believe the breakdown of the EU, whether I agree with it or not, is a symptom of a greater breakdown, and although it’s painful for us in the near future, including for artists and musicians, I somehow have the sense it needs to happen to revolutionise the structures on which we build our society. It’s a wake-up call. I’m working out my opinions on it still - it’s still fresh."